The present invention relates to the field of wireless data networks. In particular the present invention discloses a method and apparatus for dynamically configuring timing parameters between a client device and a server device in a wireless data network.
In a wireless data network, a message exchanging between a sender and a recipient may be lost or delayed for many reasons such as environmental and geographic conditions, network routing problems, or transmitter battery weakness. After sending a message, the sender does not know if the message is lost or still traveling in the wireless data network until an acknowledgement or a response is received from the recipient. To guarantee delivery in a wireless data network, the sender must retransmit the message after a period of time if there is no response or acknowledgement from the recipient. The length of the time before retransmission makes a significant impact on the performance of the wireless communication.
There are many different types of wireless networks. Examples of the wireless networks include Cellular Digital Packet Data (CDPD), Global System for Mobile Communications (GSM), Code Division Multiple Access (CDMA) and Time Division Multiple Access (TDMA). Each network has its unique timing and performance characteristics in terms of data throughput, rate of packet loss, and packet latency. For instance, a CDPD wireless data network provides a relatively high throughput and low latency for data packets whereas an SMS wireless data network provides relatively low throughput and low latency. Based on the timing and performance characteristics, each wireless network is configured uniquely with a set of timing parameters so that the network may perform optimally from a statistic perspective. For example, it is statistically observed that during a specific hour at a specific location, there is a higher percentage that messages in a network are delivered truncated or incompletely. Hence the rate of retransmission is adjusted higher for this specific hour than other hours in the specific location.
In reality, the static or fixed timing parameters do not necessarily improve the network behavior or performance because the conditions for the fixed timing parameters can change any time. With reference to the network traffic, the fixed timing parameters that are optimized for the light traffic or heavy traffic conditions may perform poorly during the heavy traffic or light traffic conditions. It would therefore be desirable to have a wireless data network system that dynamically adjusts itself based upon current conditions.
A method and apparatus for dynamically adjusting timing parameters in a wireless data network is disclosed. In the method of the present invention, a server device receives a set of timing statistics that may include a set of timing statistics measured by a wireless client and a set of timing statistics measured by the server device that services the wireless client. The timing statistics reflect the performance of the wireless network. Using the timing statistics and other timing related information such as the type of the wireless networks, the sever device determines a new set of timing parameters to be used by itself and the wireless client device or other client devices. Besides other functional values having impact on the performance of the wireless data network, the timing parameters include a minimum initial retransmission interval and an ordered set of numbers that represents a back-off curve for message retransmission.
To make the new set of timing parameters effective, the server device then transmits the new timing parameters respectively to one or more wireless client devices. After receiving the new set of timing parameters, a wireless client device may directly use the timing parameters or further process or readjust the timing parameters using local information so as to derive a set of locally optimized timing parameters for the wireless client device. This practically allows the server device to dynamically control the timing and performance behaviors of all the mobile devices it communicates with to an optimal degree with minimal efforts.
According to one embodiment, the present invention is a method for dynamically adjusting timing parameters for a wireless data network, said method comprising:
receiving timing statistics at a server device;
calculating a new set of timing parameters using said timing statistics; and
transmitting said new set of timing parameters to wireless client devices that operate in said wireless data network;
wherein the timing statistics are client timing statistics and server timing statistics and the method further comprising:
measuring the client timing statistics at a client device;
transmitting the client timing statistics from the client device to the server device.
collecting the server timing statistics and
calculating the new set of timing parameters using both the client timing statistics and the server timing statistics.
According to another embodiment, the present invention is a system for dynamically adjusting parameters for a wireless network, the system comprising:
a wireless data network;
a plurality of client devices; the plurality of client devices operating in the wireless data network; and
a server device, the server device coupled to the wireless data network, the server device collecting timing statistics, the server device calculating a new set of timing parameters based upon the timing statistics, the server device transmitting the new set of timing parameters to the plurality of the client devices.
Accordingly, an important object of the present invention is to provide a generic solution that allows wireless devices communicating in a wireless data network to be dynamically adjusted for optimum timing parameters so as to improve the communication or the network performance.